


Hands

by blutopaz15



Series: S3 Fics [4]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Blushing, Callum - Freeform, Cuddling, Cute, Dorks in Love, Elves, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Hugging, Humans, Kissing, Love, Rayla - Freeform, Rayllum, Snuggling, Sweet, hand holding, new relationship stuff!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26931787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blutopaz15/pseuds/blutopaz15
Summary: Rayla and Callum take a break from riding after their departure from the Midnight Desert, and Rayla takes a few minutes to decide exactly how she’d like to be holding Callum’s five fingers.
Relationships: Callum & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Rayllum - Relationship
Series: S3 Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018519
Comments: 21
Kudos: 101





	Hands

**Author's Note:**

> As we all freak out from last night’s AMA, I figured I’d post up this fluff that’s been nagging at me to finish! To mend all of our broken/worried hearts!
> 
> This takes place while brand-new-relationship Rayllum travel alone during Thunderfall before meeting back up with Ez. Mostly pure, maybe a little itty bit suggestive at the end.
> 
> Also, I decided to make a new sideblog on Tumblr (https://blutopaz15.tumblr.com/) as an outlet for all my Rayllum feels...don’t have much posted but my handle is the same on there if anyone wants to come find me. Come be friends! 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the senseless fluff!

He smiled to himself thinking about how she had deliberately held the shadowpaw’s reins with just her right hand so that she could hold his right hand with her left. She’d occasionally pulled his hand further across her body, by extension keeping his torso pressed closed against her back. 

He felt his cheeks warm remembering his other hand glued to her waist all morning, serving a dual purpose—balance and connection. She’d occasionally pressed against that hand with their joined ones, encouraging him to feel the curve of her waist flaring out into her stomach.

He sighed remembering the couple of times so far this morning that he’d given in to the temptation to lean forward and press his chin to her shoulder. She’d occasionally scooted backwards a little as they rode too, leaning against him, her shoulders connecting with his chest.

She perked up hearing that sigh of his and placed the core of the apple she’d been eating to the side.

“Let me see this,” Rayla insisted, reaching for his hand and pulling it into her lap. She leaned back against the large tree they’d sat under to eat their snack.

”What?” He said, as she unexpectedly held him by the wrist instead of intertwining their fingers like they’d been doing all day. 

He watched her flip his hand over so his palm faced up at her. She tucked a finger into his sleeve, grazing against the sensitive skin of the underside of his wrist. His stomach flipped at the little jolt of warmth that her touch in an unexpected place provided. She hooked that single finger into the the opening of his glove and pulled it off, placing the burgundy fabric on the ground next to her. She pressed his bare hand flat between hers, then turned it back over to study his palm. He smiled at the warmth of her skin against his, considering ditching the gloves altogether to make it last.  
  
She started her closer examination with his thumb, pressing her hands against it and massaging each segment. He glanced between their joined hands and her face. Her expression was focused but relaxed, a small smile gracing her lips.

Then, her fingers danced along his palm, tracing the lines and indentations there, skimming gently over hills and valleys. Having touched along every line, she placed her fingers in the spaces between his, her forefinger between his thumb and forefinger. She closed her hand over his, flipping it over again, looking at the empty space between his ring finger and pinky that this configuration of their hands left. She poked at that gap with her other pointer finger before flipping his hand back so it rested palm up again. He glanced back up at her expression to see her apparent displeasure. Despite her slight frown he couldn’t help the corner of his mouth moving upward at the adorable attention she was paying him.  
  
Then, she opened her hand again and shifted her fingers down to fill the gap she’d frowned at, tucking her thumb next to his. She flipped their hands over again, smiling again, and exhaled heavily.

”Hmm... _This_ is definitely better than _this_.” She held up their joined hands, fingers interwoven in their current pattern, then switched back to the first pattern briefly to demonstrate her point.

”I agree, I guess?” He said questioningly, with a shrug. “It doesn’t really matter either way to me.” He readjusted to clasp her hand in his without interweaving their fingers. “I kind of like this too,” he said, still holding up their hands, joined in a third configuration. She nodded slightly and squeezed his palm with her fingers.

”I wasn’t done, though,” she said, pulling his hand back down into her lap. She examined the top of his fingers now, with a few tiny chuckles as she traced the tan line across his fingers where the edges of his gloves fell. When she followed the line across to his little finger, she paused and touched along the side of it, running her fingers from wrist to fingertip. She flipped his hand over and repeated the same course, then pushed his fingers closed into a fist, feeling and watching his knuckles bend. Feeling the difference between his ring finger and his pinky finger, she squeezed her fingers around each individually, then peered more closely at the difference in length between the two. She pulled his hand flat again and set her hand against his, matching four out of the five fingers with her own.

”Can I?” He asked, sensing she had finished her assessment. He took a hold of her open hand with his. She nodded and watched him as he pressed her fingers against one another, eliminating the spaces between them. He noted how tiny her hands seemed comparatively, and smiled at the thought. He released her fingers, then echoed her course, tracing the side of her hand from wrist to fingertip, first examining the top of her hand, then the underside. He wrapped his fingers around her last finger. When he was done, he wove their fingers together the way she liked, then pulled her hand to his lips for a gentle kiss against the back of her hand. Her face turned pink as he did, her head cocking to the side and her lips falling open in fascination. She shook her head and inhaled sharply to regain her composure as he let their hands fall back down into her lap.

“Humans are weird,” she said, squeezing his hand. When he looked up from their hands at her, she was smiling teasingly.

”Well, I’m _your_ weird human now,” he shrugged with a smug smile of his own.

”Hmmm,” she hummed, eyes growing warmer and smile growing wider.

”Need to examine my skull now? Or how about my ears?” He said laughing as he knocked a fist against his own head and then brushed a finger past his own ear.

”No, one dose of weird is enough for now, I think,” she grinned, then there was a moment of silence. “You’re mine, huh?” She said, growing a little more serious.

”...if you want me to be,” he said, voice breaking a little, suddenly panicked with uncertainty about if she’d asked because he’d been too forward or because she actually wanted to know. He searched her face for a clue, and found it in her pink cheeks.

“I’d like that,” she blushed. “Does that make me yours too, then?” She looked at him sideways, too embarrassed to look at him more directly. He felt his heart flutter in his chest, hopeful warmth spreading through his whole body.

”If you want to be,” he responded, smiling at the symmetry. He squeezed her hand again and then poked his elbow into her arm, wishing she’d look at him.

“I am. I mean, I _do_ want to be,” she answered, staring at their hands where she rubbed her thumb against his. “Can we be serious for a minute though?” She asked, and he nodded, unaware that they hadn’t already been.

“I think you’re—” She paused to begin again. Her eyes cut to him again briefly before refocusing on their intertwined fingers. “Callum, I—I just want to say—“ She stammered. It was odd to hear her sound so _nervous_. He reached his other hand into her lap so he now held both of her hands. 

“What is it?” He asked gently, stroking the side of her hand with his thumb encouragingly. She finally met his gaze, and he inhaled sharply seeing the vulnerability in them, but she did seem to relax a little as she looked back at him.

”Callum, I really, _really_ like you. And I have for a while. You’re...wonderful and sweet and _adorable_ , and...” She blinked away as she spoke but ended her sentence meeting his eyes with hers, sparkling and lilac. “I want to be with you.” He hated that there was a question in her stare, though, showing that she truly didn’t know how throughly reciprocated her feelings were. She squeezed his hand, almost anxiously, waiting for his response.

”Rayla...” He exhaled, a little breath-taken by her confession. He adjusted his position to come around to face her, keeping their hands joined. “I want to be with you too. I wasn’t kidding...I’m yours.” Her eyebrows raised a little when he reached a hand up to her cheek, passing his thumb over the soft flesh there. His eyes wandered to her lips, thinking back to their first—that he counted anyway—kisses the night before. “Can...can I kiss you again?” He whispered, not confident enough at the moment to kiss her at random, unannounced. She nodded and closed her eyes as she leaned forward to meet his lips in the space between them.

He couldn’t think about anything except the softness of her lips against his and the scent of her skin by his nose. He couldn’t think, and he couldn’t let it end. His hand had remained on her cheek and he used that hand to keep her close as they paused, pulling her gently back to him as they breathed. She squeezed at his hand that remained in her lap. When he finally released her cheek, their foreheads angled together and they leaned against each other, cheeks flushed and a little breathless.

”You don’t have to _ask_ , you know,” she whispered. He opened his eyes but hers were still closed.

”Hmm?” He hummed.

”You can kiss me...without asking.” She shrugged and blinked her eyes open again. 

“I just wasn’t sure if last night was a special privilege or...” He trailed off with a chuckle, pulling away to see her better. She giggled a little back.

”I’ve been wishing you’d kiss me for a while, Callum,” she closed one eye to wink at him, making his face turn scarlet. The color spread down his neck as she continued. “So, by all means, kiss me...whenever you want, really.” She looked at him fondly, then leaned forward to bring her lips to his cheek, his chin lightly pinched between her thumb and forefinger. When she pulled away, he gazed fondly at her a moment before lunging forward to squeeze her tight, releasing their hands for the first time since she’d begun her examination. He returned the kiss to her cheek, lingering to nuzzle his nose against her temple as he held her. 

“In case it wasn’t clear, I really, _really_ like you too,” he whispered into her ear, “and you can also kiss me whenever you’d like to.” His hands moved from around her shoulders down her arms to hold her hands again as he pulled away. She leaned forward to place a brief kiss to him lips with a smile, then released one of his hands to return his glove to him. She pulled the thin fabric over his fingers, attentively threading all five through the openings. “I wish we could stay like this all day,” he mused with a sigh as she worked.

”Really? Because I’d like to get back to our perpetual hug, if you don’t mind.” She gestured with a thumb over her shoulder to their mount. She bought his re-gloved hand to her lips and kissed the tip of each finger.

”Oh?” He asked with a chuckle.

”Yeah,” she said, “it’s...nice...having a reason for you hold on to me like that. It was nice yesterday too.” She looked sideways and blushed a little, grinning and shrugging.

”You know, Rayla, we don’t need a _reason,_ ” he smiled and brought his recently re-gloved hand to her side, stroking his thumb against the little indentation where the circumference of her waist was tiniest. Her free hand covered his hand, pressing it tightly against her body. When he looked to her eyes, an idea had clearly dawned across her face.

”You know what, though?” She started, standing up and pulling him with her. “Not very fair that _you’ve_ been hugging _me_ for two days straight. Let’s switch. She smiled cheerily, then turned to gather the few supplies they’d pulled out during their little break. She pulled his pack on to her shoulders.

”Uh, did you forget _why_ I started doing that in the first place?” He followed her as she crossed to the shadowpaw.

”Oh, you’ll be fine. It’s easy riding, and I can keep you steady.” She looked at him encouragingly as she spoke and he felt warmth spread in his chest again. “Up you go,” she said, patting the saddle. He clumsily obeyed and she lept up behind him, immediately threading her arms around his waist, pressing against his back.

”I think I need both hands,” he started as they took off. “Sorry.”

”Oh, that’s fine. This is _exactly_ what I had in mind anyway.” He hoped she couldn’t feel the tremble that moved down his spine as she whispered this sweetly in his ear. She squeezed him around the middle a little tighter and he, very gingerly, dropped the rein he held in his left hand for a moment to briefly lay his fingers over hers. 

He sighed contentedly as he gave her fingers a gentle squeeze before returning his hand to the rein. As they rode on, she’d occasionally squeeze tighter around his waist, hands disappearing beneath his jacket, radiating warmth through the single layer of fabric they rested on.

He felt his cheeks warm as he tried not to think about exactly _what parts_ of her were pressed against him. She’d occasionally innocently wiggle against his back, as if to remind him that she was there, holding him, which he thought was so _cute_ that he almost forgot what had made him blush at all as his heart swelled in his chest.

He smiled feeling her warm breath tickle the back of his neck as she positioned her chin firmly on his shoulder. She’d occasionally land her lips clumsily on his neck, or jaw, or cheek, broadening his smile even more, all the while her hands held him steady gently, securely, lovingly.


End file.
